The wife of Kogi State governor, Hajia Halima Wada, has distributed about 1,565 Insecticide Treated Nets to various communities to commemorate the World Malaria Day.
She said at the Lokoja distribution centre that the mass distribution of the net across the state would mark the beginning of drastic reduction in malaria scourge and deaths caused by malaria, especially among women and children, who were the worst affected.
Wada enjoined women and children to use the net as available statistics has shown that malaria was responsible for 30 per cent of deaths in children and 10 per cent of deaths in pregnant women.
She urged all the people in the state to practically make use of the treated nets in order to prevent malaria.
Wada said that the net was environmentally friendly and safe for use, adding that the nets were not to be sold.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Oyebuchi Chukwu, who was represented by the Director in the ministry, Mr Moody Ayo, commended the state government for its support for the project.
He urged traditional rulers and the media to ensure sustainability of the project by sensitising the people on the need for the use of the net.
Earlier, the State’s Commissioner for Health Dr Idris Omede, in his welcome address, gave the theme of the world malaria day as, “invest in the future, defeat malaria, time is now.’’
He said the programme would not only rapidly reduce the number of malaria cases and death, but would also reduce diseases spread by mosquitoes and other vectors like lymphatic filariasis.
Omede thanked the Kogi government for the success of the project in the health sector and the wife of the governor for her initiative.
